About This Artwork
Irving Penn
American, 1917–2009
Rochas Mermaid Dress, (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), Paris1950, printed June 1979
Platinum-palladium print, edition 8/25
50 x 50 cm (image); 63.1 x 56 cm (paper); 66.1 x 56 cm (mount)
Gift of Irving Penn, 1996.237
Photography
Not on Display
Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories
Exhibition History
AIC, “Irving Penn: A Career in Photography,” November 22, 1997–February 1, 1998; traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia, State Hermitage Museum, March 1–May 16, 1998; Hamburg, Germany, Deichtorhallen, June 18–September 6, 1998; Munich, Germany, Münchner Stadtmuseum, October 6, 1998–February 21, 1999; San Francisco, California, Friends of Photography/Ansel Adams Center for Photography, July 28–October 10,1999; Tokyo, Japan, Metropolitan Museum of Photography, November 11, 1999–January 23, 2000; Houston, Texas, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 25–June 4, 2000; Paris, France, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, September 13–November 5, 2000. (Colin Westerbeck)
AIC, "Paris: Photographs from a Time that Was," August 13–November 6, 2005. (David Travis)
Publication History
Penn, Irving. 1960. “Moments Preserved.” Simon and Schuster. p. 27. (other print of this image/variant with different cropping)
Gruber, L. Fritz. 1965. “Beauty: Variations on the Theme Woman by Masters of the Camera—Past and Present.” Focal Press. p. 49. (other print of this image/variant with different cropping)
Hall-Duncan, Nancy. 1979. "The History of Fashion Photography." Exh. cat. International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House/Alpine Book Company. p. 145. (other print of this image)
Gruber, L. Fritz and Reinhold Misselbeck. 1983. "Glamour and Fashion.” Exh. cat. Museum Ludwig. p. 15, fig. 11.1. (other print of this image)
Szarkowski, John. 1984. "Irving Penn." Exh. cat. Museum of Modern Art/New York Graphic Society Books. pl. 58. (other print of this image)
Foresta, Merry A. and William F. Stapp. 1990. “Irving Penn: Master Images.” Exh. cat. National Museum of American Art and National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 41, cat. 28. (other print of this image)
Penn, Irving. 1991. “Passage: A Work Record.” Knopf. p. 81 (other print of this image/variant with different cropping)
Harrison, Martin. 1996. “Lisa Fonssagrives: Three Decades of Classic Fashion Photography.” Vendome Press. p. 142. (other print of this image)
Westerbeck, Colin. 1997. “Irving Penn: A Career in Photography.” Exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago/Bulfinch Press. p. 179, cat. 72.
Travis, David. 2005. "Paris: Photographs from a Time that Was." Exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press. p. 85.
Ownership History
Given by the artist to the Art Institute, 1996.

